U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks during a press conference in the Brady Briefing Room at the White House on May 28, 2026 in Washington, DC.
Kent Nishimura | AFP | Getty Images
Hello, this is Leonie Kidd from London.
It feels right to quote political scientist James Carville’s famous 1993 quote: But now I want to get back into the bond market. You can blackmail everyone. ”
The ‘highest bid’ proved short-lived and the bond market appears to need more convincing.
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What you need to know today
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC in an exclusive interview on Thursday that the Treasury Department may expand bond repurchase operations beyond the initial $4 billion. He told CNBC’s Sarah Eisen that current yields don’t reflect market fundamentals, adding that 30-year bonds are particularly illiquid.
Yields briefly eased in response to his comments, but the “best bid” didn’t last long. The bond market has resumed its rally, with long-term 30-year bonds heading toward multi-decade peaks. Analysts were quick to point out the flaws, with Evercore ISI saying the move had “little lasting impact and could backfire,” Jefferies calling it a “rash decision,” while JPMorgan said in a note to clients that “a more permanent impact could be an increase in risk premiums.”
Speaking at Squawk Box Asia on Friday, JPMorgan’s James Sullivan described the practice as “a bit like paying your mortgage on a credit card. It might work for a while, but eventually the discrepancies start to become more obvious.”
There is skepticism about the impact of Bessent’s “big toolkit.” Here’s what else he could try:
“We can grow from there.”
Bessent also said it was “very likely” that the U.S. is at its peak budget deficit under President Donald Trump. According to the data, it exceeded $432 billion in July. He also hit back at critics of America’s ballooning debt mountain, which reached $40 trillion for the first time on Tuesday, saying there was “no magic” in the numbers, adding: “We can grow our way out of it.”
You can read the full exclusive interview here.
market wrap
Wall Street retreated during Thursday trading. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite fell 0.9% and 1%, respectively. The setback sent the S&P 500 index down 1.9% for the week and the Nasdaq index down 2.5%, on pace to end its three-week winning streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has fallen 1.8% since the start of the week, continuing its weekly decline. Futures prices are expected to rise modestly on Friday.
The final trading day of the week saw mixed trading across the Asia-Pacific region, but major stock markets are likely to fall into the red this week as European stock growth slows.
— Leonie Kidd
And finally…
The biggest obstacle for China’s humanoid robots: humans are still (mostly) superior
BEIJING — The big challenge for humanoid robots remains making the technology work, according to industry leaders speaking at the World Robotics Congress in Beijing this week.
Robots are still not as efficient as humans and take time to learn new skills, which is a bottleneck for the industry, Unitree founder Wang Xingxing said at a conference a day after the company’s IPO date soared 460%. His remarks highlighted the challenges of humanoid robots entering the human workforce.
— Evelyn Chen
